Toddler

5 Tips to Save on School Lunches

Philmundo — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:33:58 -0700

by Phil Stott

You know how it is; you want to give your child as healthy and nutritious lunch as possible, and to fill their lunchbox with all the things you know they enjoy, but all those juice boxes and pre-packaged snacks can really begin to add up. Here, then, are 5 ways to control the cost of what goes into Junior's lunch box while ensuring that you're not cutting down on quality.

Cut down the juice (or cut it out)

There are two important labels to consider when looking at juice boxes for kids: the one on the shelf in the store that tells you the price per gallon, and the one on the box with the calories and ingredients. When you check out the former, you realize that the bigger the container, the cheaper the contents become-the bonus of buying in bulk. So if you do send your kids to school with juice, get the biggest container of it you can find and portion it out into a reusable cup for your child every day. Also, don't be afraid to water it down (or cut it out altogether): that nutrition label reveals that most fruit juices have a staggering amount of sugar and calories, most of which your child is probably better off without.

Use leftovers

You're not too proud to parcel up the leftovers from one meal and haul them in for a cheap lunch at work, right? So why be afraid of doing so for your child? Obviously you don't want to send them in with something that's going to be too messy (leftover ribs, anyone?) or that will require any kind of preparation, but leftover slices of pizza are sure to be a hit, while things like chicken can be re-used in sandwiches.

Make your own...

No matter what food you name, it's usually cheaper and healthier to make your own version of it, even if it takes a little effort. And the best part: you can get your kids involved. Try making your own cookies or brownies for snack-time treats, or even your own soups for hot, healthy lunches (you might need to invest a little in a decent thermos, though).

Ditch the brown bags-and the plastic ones

Splash out a little on a lunchbox and a couple of plastic or (even better) metal containers for your child. Not only will they enjoy toting their favorite cartoon character or sports team with them every day, it'll also save you a bundle in the long run on all those plastic baggies and brown paper sacks.

The more adventurous (or less time-stretched) among you may want to try stepping it up a notch on your kids' lunches as well. For that reason, I offer the following link to a phenomenon I read about in the New York Times recently: kid-friendly bento boxes. Be warned, though: you may well end up feeling like the most inadequate parent in the world.

Ask your child what they want

Remember getting to school as a kid only to open your lunchbox and find that you hated what was inside? I got caught on more than one occasion trying to ditch my sandwiches in the lunchroom trashcan. Don't have your kids going through the day hungry: talk to them about what they'd like-and about what worked and didn't work. One of the big treats when I was growing up in Britain was to get a jelly sandwich with one of these cookies in it-ridiculously unhealthy, but really good. What my mum didn't realize, though, was that if she put the sandwich together in the morning, the jelly caused the cookie to get mushy. Solution: pack them separately, allow the child to assemble (the same goes for any sandwich where one ingredient has to stay crispy).

Daddy's house as a sanctuary.

jmishak — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:08:48 -0700

My toddler (2 1/2) lives primarily with his Mother, half-brother and the boyfriend and his two kids. Life is chaotic for him there so when he comes to my house he seems to just want to rest and enjoy the quiet. When we do play we play until we sweat and fall down, but more recently all he wants to do is watch his Sponge Bob dvd and sit on the couch.

How do I say no? At mom's he fights for attention and the harrassment of three older boys (ages 7-9). I feel like he deserves the peace and quiet and to think of daddy's house as HIS house, so....I am at a loss. I do not want to force him to play when he does not want to, but I am also concerned of the ever growing addiction to dvd's.

Help.

Elmo's mom gets laid off

Philmundo — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:40:45 -0700

by Phil Stott

It's probably fitting that this week-the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the financial meltdown that has caused carnage in the economy and led to millions of job losses across the country-is the week that Elmo finds out his mom has lost her job on Sesame Street. Not literally-the actress will still be appearing on the show-but her character will break the news to Elmo on September 9 on PBS (that's on Wednesday-check your local listings for the exact air time).

Among the important lessons Elmo (and by extension any kids watching the show) will learn are that cutbacks are needed: so trips to amusement parks are canceled in favor of trips to the playground, while visits to the cinema become nights at home with a DVD instead. Also important: Elmo learns that it's not his fault and that there's a big difference between needs (things like food) and wants (things like toys).

In a country now boasting an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent, the upcoming episode is both timely and potentially very useful for any parent who finds themselves in the situation of having to explain a downturn in their family's personal fortunes to their kid. (OK, so it might have been more timely back in the spring when companies were announcing layoffs with such frequency that it seemed like a competition, but beggars can't be choosers.)

Anyway, to further set the scene, here's Elmo appearing on the Today show last weekend to discuss the economic situation (no, really!), and provide some lead-in to Wednesday's show

AND HERE'S THE LINK (just in case): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/32713599#32713599

The Art of Sleep Training

Philmundo — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:41:36 -0700

By Phil Stott

"What are we going to do when she gets too big for the crib?"

So said my wife last night as we closed the door on a daughter who was already a half-hour past her bedtime, clearly too tired to stay up any longer, but practically inconsolable about the fact that it was time to end the fun for another day. As a result, when we shut the door she was standing gripping the sides of the crib, peering out over the top of it, yelling "Mama" at the top of her voice while sobbing. A pretty heart-rending scene, if you're not going through it several times a week.

The prediction behind my wife's question, obviously, was that as soon as Maeve is too big to contain in a crib, we're going to have to put her in a real bed-one with no sides to contain her-and we're both pretty certain that the first thing she'll do will be to get out.

That's one of the main reasons we've been doing our best to get her on a regular schedule. As much as possible, we've been trying to make sure her bedtime falls at around the same time, and we've been working hard on establishing a routine based on the following points:

Get a routine going

There are all kinds of things you can do to signal to your child that their day is coming to an end. Bath time right before bed. The appearance of the toothbrush. A couple of storybooks or songs to calm down. Then, tell them it's time for bed, lay them down, and get out of the room. While it might be nice for both you and your child if you stick around until they get to sleep, you're risking setting up a situation where they can't get to sleep unless you're there. Sure, there will be nights where you need to do a little extra calming once your child is in bed, but provided they're not hysterical, it pays to get out as soon as possible. A child that learns to go to sleep alone young is one that you'll spend less time chasing back into bed as they get older. Not to mention the amount of time you'll free up for yourself.

Turn down the monitor...

...or turn it off altogether. Nothing's going to pull you back to your child's room faster than the sound of crying coming out of a monitor. All you'll achieve by going back in, though, is to legitimize the behavior in your child's mind, and create a scenario where they know that a screaming fit will get them a little more time with you before they have to go to sleep. To avoid making that a routine, try turning down the monitor so the cries aren't as intrusive. Ever wondered why some of them come with a light meter on the front that goes up and down with the volume of your child's cries? Now you know: some models actually allow you to mute the sound but still keep an eye on them. Once they're asleep, though, you'll probably want to turn it back up again.

Of course, I'm not suggesting that you completely ignore a crying child once you've put them to bed-just that you give them an opportunity to fall asleep by themselves. For that reason, I'd also recommend that you:

Set a timer and stick to it

If your child is new to the concept of you leaving them to fall asleep alone, and responds by crying, you may want to start by building in set periods of time before you go back to them. Start out with something you're comfortable with-5 to 10 minutes-and, as the days wear on, gradually increase the waiting period. Remember: the longer you can wait before going back in, the more opportunity your child has to fall asleep by themselves. Of course, if they genuinely sound like they're in distress or particularly upset, or if the crying goes on for a long time, you'll want to go in and find out what's wrong.

We've seen some pretty good results so far, although we still get the odd occasion-mostly for afternoon naps-where Maeve just won't go to sleep without one of us there until she passes out. I'm figuring that the longer we persist, the more likely it is that she'll come to accept bedtime without a struggle. As soon as she starts that, I'll feel a whole lot better about putting her in a real bed.

As always, I'm open to further suggestions from those who have been there and done this before me, or who are trying different things right now. Post any recommendations in the comments field below.

Reading: More Than Just Books

Philmundo — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:42:07 -0700

by Phil Stott

As someone who's always read, and who basically makes his living from being able to read and write, I've always known that reading is important. And that a love of reading begins in childhood. What I didn't know until I read this piece in The New York Times, however, was exactly how important reading is to a child's development. According to the article, kids who don't read during their summer vacation fall behind those who do: whether by their own choice or through being forced to at home or summer camp. And that's not just a "well, duh!" moment that gets wiped out easily once school starts again; kids who don't get a mental workout over the summer vacation display demonstrably lower I.Q. scores than they did before the vacation. The advantage for a child who keeps mentally active over the break, therefore, is clear to see.

Now, the piece in the Times was more or less an excuse for the writer to compile a list of his all-time favorite children's books. Having grown up in Britain, my own list would probably look significantly different (although Harry Potter and the Hardy Boys would still make it onto mine), but the point of this piece isn't to provide recommendations or any kind of exercise in nostalgia.

Rather, what I'd like to make a case for is the role that environment plays in reading-and it's something that's easily overlooked in an age when kids have so many things competing for their interest and attention.

Hands down the smartest family I know has five kids. One parent is a graduate of Cambridge. The only 2 kids old enough to have graduated high school now attend Princeton and Yale, while the other 3 look set to follow in their footsteps. Their house, as might be expected, is a chaotic mess, the sort of place where you can stumble sideways and bring a wall of books crashing down on you wherever you turn. Clearly the kids have something of a genetic advantage, not to mention a socio-economic one, but it seems to me that there's more to it than just having smart, well-educated parents who seem to have saved every book they or their kids have ever read.

What it comes down to, I think, is that the parents aren't afraid to let their children get bored. None of the kids has their own TV, and the one games console the family owns is located in the living room-a factor that greatly reduces the amount of time the kids can use it. On top of that, the parents limit the time their kids get to spend doing frivolous things on the Internet (i.e. anything that isn't homework-related), and have set up the house with chairs, couches and cushions tucked into just about every nook and cranny that's not occupied by books. The result: a place with lots of quiet, private spaces for a child to sit down and get lost in the pages of whatever they happen to find on the shelves. And, with less competition for their attention, an increased likelihood of that actually occurring.

That's what I mean when I talk about environment. Often, it's not the instructions we give our kids that has the greatest effect on their behavior. (Indeed, in my toddler's case, instructions tend to get me the exact opposite result to the one I'm seeking.) Thus, sitting a child down and telling them to read is likely to be as well received as telling them to eat their vegetables at the dinner table. Creating an environment where reading seems like as natural a diversion as picking up a PSP, however, may just make the difference in ensuring that your child's I.Q. continues to develop all through their lives. So if you're planning on starting any kind of pro-reading campaign this summer, by all means start with someone else's list, but consider also phasing out some of the other distractions in your child's life.

Road Trip: Entertaining the Kids

Philmundo — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:29:27 -0700

by Phil Stott

So you've done all the preparations, checked the maps, got the car serviced, and you're pretty much as prepared as you think you can be to spend a few days in the car with the kids. You could be forgiven, though, if you're seeing Griswold family-style mishaps every time you close your eyes, or are having flashbacks to long boring hours spent in the back of the car when you were a kid (it's not that long ago, right?). While the options for in-car entertainment have certainly stepped up a gear or two since I was a kid (let's just say the options on offer back then were such that a fight with a sibling was something to look forward to), I'm not sold on the whole concept of letting kids watch DVDs for the duration of a journey-if you even have it as an option. Sure, they're great for getting a little peace and quiet, but with the whole world passing by right outside your window, it would be a shame for your kids to miss it all for yet another rerun of Ratatouille.

To that end, the 10 suggestions I've listed here for "in-car entertainment" are mostly of the non-electronic variety, and most can be used just as effectively on a trip to the mall as they can to the other side of the country. I'm aware, however, that the list is far from exhaustive. Feel free to make your own suggestions in the comments box at the bottom.

1)      "Pe-diddle"

Everyone knows this one, right? The single best game to play at night, and it can go on for years; trying to be the first to find cars with one head- or tail-light out (and claim it by shouting "pe-diddle"). It might not score high on the list of non-stop action, but the advantage of this one is that you never know what's around the next corner. And it definitely rewards those with an interest in looking outside of the car.

2)      Road bingo

So this one's pretty simple. All you need is paper and a pen. Make up grids (three by three, or four by four are probably enough) and write a random state name in each box-remember to include nearby states that you've got more chance of seeing on plates as you're driving. You can also just give your kids a sheet each and encourage them to write down whichever states they see (highest after a set period of time wins). Completing the full list is probably unlikely, but it would be an interesting challenge/record of your trip. For older kids, you may also want to introduce a rule where only the person who sees a plate first gets to check it off.

An alternative-but one that requires a little more preparation-is to print off picture bingo cards of objects you're likely to encounter. You can find some, plus a ton of other great ideas, at momsminivan.com.

3)      License plate math

One that can be adjusted for all ages/math levels, this basically involves using numbers on license plates to arrive at target numbers, using all the numbers on the plate.

4)      21

Some of you might remember this from drinking games in college, but trust me when I tell you that I've adapted it for use both in classrooms and on road trips, and it works. Basically, it's a memory game where the object is to count to 21, but where numbers get substituted for other things-words, snatches of song, joke challenges, whatever you like. The game goes round the car so each person playing says one number (or its equivalent) in turn. Get it wrong, you're out, and the count starts over from 1 again. Make it to 21, and the person who said the number gets to choose what changes in the nest round. I heartily recommend starting with only one or two numbers substituted out, as a) it stretches the game out and b) it gets difficult fast!

5)      The "quiet" game

Yup, that's right. A game to find out which member of the car can stay silent the longest. Not so much a game as a method of keeping your sanity at times, but highly recommended.

6)      Car color spotting

Similar to license plate bingo, it may be worth having cards made up in advance (or just paper and pens) so the kids can tally what they see.

7)      Cards

One for older kids (and especially useful if you've got more than one, otherwise you'll likely be in the back with them), many a backseat hour can be whiled away with a deck of cards, and the variety of games is almost endless. Also useful for hotel rooms, restaurants, tents and, well, just about anywhere. Warning: be prepared to break up the inevitable disputes if your kids are playing with no adult supervision!

8)      Limerick competitions

You know the rules of limericks, right(LINK)? So why not see who can come up with the best one from the names of towns flashing by you on the signs. Who knows, maybe you'll come up with something as good as this.

9)      I-spy

No, really. I know it gets irritating, but it requires no preparation, no resources, and can last for, well, as long as you can!

10) DVDs.

I know what I said in the introduction, but I didn't say they were a bad thing per se. Chances are, if you've gone through the 9 options above, everyone in the car will be in need of a break. Plus, even the most interested, well-behaved kid needs something fun to look at if you're driving across Ohio!

Taking back the living room

Philmundo — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 07:17:26 -0700

By Phil Stott

So my mother-in-law-Maeve's "Nana"-visited us over Memorial Day weekend and, as seems to be a pattern when you only see your relatives once in a while, identified an area where Meghan and I had given a little too much sway to Maeve. Fortunately for us, it was nothing major, and nothing to do with Maeve's behavior or development. It was, however, something that had been tugging at my subconscious, and nagging me for a solution. In short, we'd given over most of our living room to Maeve's toys, meaning that it had begun, as my mother-in-law put it, to look like a branch of Toys R Us. And it's not like we had that much room to begin with.

The thing is, I know exactly how the problem started, and I was happy with it at the time. With a newborn, there's no point in having a playroom or separate space allocated for toys and the like; you need to keep an eye on them at all times, so it makes sense to have a few things to hand that they can play with in the room where you're most comfortable and spend most of your time. In our case, that meant storing toys in a basket by the TV-an area that later became a de facto dumping ground for any and every toy that came Maeve's way-even as they became too big and way too numerous for the basket. As such, until last weekend, the major material in our living room was brightly colored plastic, in many different shapes and sizes-from rocking giraffes to dolls houses-and the place just never looked completely tidy, let alone like a house where two adults also lived.

As I mentioned above, both Meghan and I knew that this was something of a problem-we just hadn't figured out what to do about it. Or, at least, I hadn't. Meghan had a plan that I'd half listened to and then forgotten about, as the amount of work involved seemed like way too much effort-cleaning out a large closet under our stairs, furnishing it as a storage/playroom, and (the hardest part) finding new homes for all the junk that had been in there.

Once Meghan's mom arrived last week, however, I knew the game was over. Suddenly it was two people willing to do something about the problem against only my apathy, and I was easily outmaneuvered. That meant I spent a good part of my holiday weekend lifting and carrying stuff, assembling IKEA furniture, and, um, cursing as I racked up the usual litany of scrapes and injuries that seem to accompany any hands-on home improvement task. (One saving grace: I did get out of the torment of the IKEA trip by volunteering to stay home and supervise a sleeping daughter-a task that saw me catch up on some much-needed mindless internet gaming.)

Anyway, long story short: we now have a bona fide playroom for Maeve, and I can't believe the difference it's made to our house. I haven't tripped over a toy or stepped on a LEGO in my bare feet all week. It's like being on vacation! More importantly, though, Meghan and I have what feels like an oasis of adult calm in our own home again: a room where we're not constantly staring at toys even as we try to watch a movie; a place that we feel comfortable inviting other adults into, without having to apologize for the toys strewn everywhere. It's one of the best things we've done in a while, and it reminded me of an important rule that I find all too easy to forget: that being a parent doesn't have to mean giving up life as you know it. Well, that, and another one: if you've got stuff in a closet that you haven't used, thought about or even seen for over a year, it's probably safe to get of it.

9 (actually useful) other uses of Ketchup

tony — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:28:14 -0700

Bet you didn't know that ketchup could be used for so many (actually useful) things. Then again, any dad with a kid at least 3 years old knows that ketchup has an infinite number of uses.

iTunes For My Kids

Philmundo — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:26:48 -0700

by Phil Stott

There are certain things that it just seems kind of shameful to say. Here's one of them: I've never owned a single product manufactured by Apple. Here's another (arguably worse): until my mother-in-law threw an iTunes card my way at Christmas, I'd never even had so much as a cursory look at one of the biggest media providers on the planet. It's not that I dislike the company, or technology in general. It's just that, well, I'd always kind of got along well enough without it. (OK, I'll admit it, there is another reason: I kind of miss tapes, and get nostalgic from time to time for the Walkman I had in college, and Apple ruined all that. Sure, they brought convenience and portability and all the rest, but they destroyed the romance for me, and the concept of collecting music as a hobby. And the concept of bands putting out entire, well thought-out albums that you can listen to from start to finish, now that I think about it.)

Anyway, putting all of that aside, I've recently declared an amnesty-mostly because of the iTunes card-and have begun finding reasons to love the convenience of iTunes in general. And I've become addicted to podcasts; I honestly had no idea that there was just so much stuff out there and (here's the key part) much of it is free. Indeed, far from destroying my life as a music lover, podcasts such as NPR's All Songs Considered have led to me discover some cool new stuff.

As you might have guessed, the site has benefits for me as a parent that go well beyond taking the work out of finding new stuff to listen to on my commute. In fact, there are endless hours of entertainment on there for kids of all ages. As such, I've highlighted five of my favorite kid-friendly podcasts, in the (probably misguided) assumption that there are other people out there who maybe haven't been turned on to the full range of media available that doesn't cost a penny.

Spare the rock, spoil the child

That, believe it or not, is the title of a weekly podcast of better-than-normal music for kids. Featuring legit bands that have turned out a kids album or two (They Might Be Giants and Barenaked Ladies to name a couple), legit bands that have produced a kid-friendly song or two (White Stripes, anyone?), as well as music by dedicated child entertainers, the key feature for me is that I can listen to an episode without wanting to tear my ears off. Oh, and Maeve seems to like it as well!

"Can you tell me how to get..."

Admit it, you sang the end of the line and ended up in Sesame Street. The show's pretty much a childhood staple, and there's a "Word on the Street" section available on weekly podcast. Hosted by a giant orange monster called Murray, it regularly features celebrities (Larry King, Mariska Hargitay), other residents of Sesame Street (Elmo, Big Bird), and vocabulary items that run the gamut from "mail" to "predicament." And at around five minutes per episode, what's not to love-either as a quick distraction or a series of them back-to-back?

Stuff you should know

One for the older kids (not to mention their parents), this series is produced by the folks at howstuffworks and features a weekly presentation on, well, stuff you should know. Recent episodes have featured everything from how credit defaults work to whether animals have a sixth sense to the debate over whether local or organic food is better.

"Stick 'em up"

Old school sound effects and dialog. Over the top voice acting and detective schtick. Even if your kids don't get into the classics on Radio Detective Story Hour, there's no reason you can't listen and enjoy them yourself. To make them more appealing, though, you could always challenge your kids to write one, and make the sound effects themselves.

Turn the dial up to 11...

...for cuteness. For those with kids with an obsession with cute animals, UltraKawaii is the best and worst podcast out there, depending on your tolerance for ultra-cute animals and cartoons on nauseating pink and pastel backgrounds.

As mentioned above, all the stuff I've recommended is completely free. For those that just aren't into iTunes, they're available elsewhere as well (mostly by clicking the links provided)-although I don't know about subscription capabilities anywhere else, which has been the key selling point for me. Turns out I'm all about the Apple-tastic convenience after all!

The "Toddler Effect"

Philmundo — Thu, 28 May 2009 06:47:06 -0700

by Phil Stott

Just last weekend I noticed-not for the first time-one of the major benefits to having a child of toddling age: getting away with stuff. For some reason, having a bundle of cuteness with me wherever I go seems to make people more amenable on those occasions that I get caught acting like a complete jerk-something that never quite seems to be as rare as I think it is, as my wife will surely attest.

The most recent example of the toddler effect happened, of all places, in my local library. Having finally returned a book that had been in my possession for almost two months, I was appalled to get a phone call a couple of weeks ago from said library alleging that the condition of the book had deteriorated so much in my care that I would have to pay them for it.

Being busy with work plus the fact that I really wasn't looking forward to the encounter, it took me a couple of weeks to get down there to sort the problem out. Being the kind of guy who likes to run through a million different scenarios of how a scene is likely to play out, the two weeks between the call and me presenting myself at the lending desk were filled with all manner of variations on the theme. Ideal scenario: I'd get some teenager who couldn't care less, and would just take the money. Worst case scenario: I'd get a stern lecture from some withered spinster (in my imagination only bored teenagers and sharp-eyed spinsters work in libraries) while other library-goers paused from browsing the stacks to look up and tut their disapproval. Even worse was the prospect that I'd hand over the money and have to argue over the fate of the book; in my estimation, paying for it meant that I should get to keep it, especially if its condition was such that they would rather call me in than lend it to someone else.

Having spent most of Saturday manfully trying to find ways to put off the encounter yet again (grocery shopping, getting a new tire, feigning an interest in college lacrosse on TV), I was eventually propelled towards my fate by my wife's insistence that she needed some peace and quiet to get on with her grad school work. Running through a mental checklist of Maeve-friendly errands that needed running (as opposed to Maeve-unfriendly ones like, uh, going to the driving range), I realized that there was no way I could put off the library encounter any longer. Packing her into the car, then, I headed off towards my fate, mentally rerunning both the best and worst case scenarios as I drove.

As it turned out, the encounter fell somewhere between the two extremes. In fact, thanks to Maeve, it ended up a lot closer to "best" on the scale than I had any right to expect. When I went in and announced myself, I was met with a frosty "Ah. Yes" by a distinctly matronly character, before she flounced off to grab the book as if I'd done her a personal injury. Returning with it, it wasn't difficult to see why-or how I'd thought the book was okay to return. It was a nightmare. A giant coffee stain, with grounds in it, adorned a significant cross section of the pages, and the cover was bent in half, the unbound edge pointing skywards at around the same angle as the screen currently sticking up from my laptop.

Fortunately, just at the point she brought it out, Maeve started fidgeting on the floor beside me, and I picked her up. The change in the woman when I set Maeve on the counter next to the offending book was a sight to behold. From stern and matronly, she morphed into a kindly grandmother right before my eyes. Not only did she forget what she was doing, when I reminded her she seemed distinctly sorry to have to be taking the money, and I left the place carrying not only the book (which was surrendered without question), but a much lighter load of guilt and shame than I'd expected.

Since then, a colleague told me she'd read something about how people with kids have been less likely to lose their jobs in the recession than childless people. I don't know how true that is, having seen couple of parents canned at my own office of late, but if it is, it's another example of the toddler effect in action. Regardless, it's something I'll be trying to harness in future-I could use all the help I can get at the office, whether it's in asking for a raise or (more likely) avoiding yet another round of layoffs.